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Friday the fourteenth
of April was a day with a plan. My brother, sister-in-law, and
nieces had come to town, and we had decided to do something special
on the fourteenth. I know this may come as a shock, but they actually
convinced me to go out looking for birds with them. My
arm still hurts from all the twisting them had to do.
The day dawned a bit
damp, cold, and overcast, but we pressed on with our expedition
anyhow. Our plan was to start out at Reifel, where we would get
in some good duck feeding.
We met at my place
in New Westminster, and I loaded into their rented van. On the
way to Ladner, we saw a few Bald Eagles hanging out in trees,
necessitating a short pull-over-to-the-side-of-the-road or two,
the last one quite near Westham Island.
Once we were on the
island, we proceeded down the road but ended up stopping short
of Reifel when we found a medium-sized flock of Snow Geese in
a field to the south. We all got out of the van to have a good
look. There were a few geese that were closer to the road than
the bulk of the flock, and I took some photos of them while my
companions disembarked.
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| I was pretty
excited by this whole expedition, as I was heading out with two
expert field naturalists: Sydney... |
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| and Chloe. |
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Who knows what interesting
stuff these two would find...
We had been watching
the geese for a few minutes, when suddenly they all started their
raucous flight calls and took to the air. I took a few photos
of them, as the sky became full of geese and the air full of their
sound. Snow Geese takeoff is always an exhilarating event.
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I looked around and
found the cause of the geese's alarm: a Bald Eagle was flying
over. I think the geese needn't have worried, though; the baldie
was flying straight and fast, in a hurry to get somewhere.
There was a
group of five geese that hadn't taken off. At one point, they
all poked up their heads and looked around, as if wondering where
everybody went.
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Well, I was happy that
my family got to experience a Snow Goose takeoff, even if it wasn't
the huge flock. We packed back in the van and headed on to Reifel.
In the parking lot
at Reifel, we were greeted by this lady, a domestic Mallard, who
came over to say hi to the little folk and take a sip from a puddle
behind the van. I think she had maybe heard of our expedition
and was expecting us to start the duck-feeding part there in the
parking lot.
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| But we didn't.
Instead we went on in to the refuge. Varri wasn't there, so we just
grabbed some feed bags, went on in, and paid on the way out. Once
we were down at Fuller's Slough, we let the feeding begin. Here
Chloe shows her excellent form in long-range feed scattering. |
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| Sydney discovered
that ducks really like her. |
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| And Chloe
found out that ducks don't have the same concept of personal space
that humans do. Chloe dropped her feed bag and it disappeared under
a sea of ever-more-closely encroaching ducks. |
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With the excitement
of the first round of duck-feeding over, we walked along the east
side of the refuge. Some ducks really had taken a liking to Sydney
and Chloe and they would fly up behind us or come running towards
us. If you're not used to seeing ducks running, well, it's really
a very fast waddle that is incredibly cute and humorous. We all
enjoyed the running ducks.
We saw a few Wood Ducks
and, briefly, Black-capped Chickadees, but not much else on the
east side trail. Going along the north, we stopped to watch a
Great Blue Heron who was hunting. Here he's poised to strike.
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| And then
Snap! ...his bill stabbed into the water after his prey. |
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| Pulling
his head back up, he tossed his catch, a little fish, further up
into his bill where he could swallow it. |
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He did that a couple
of times while we watched.
We soon had reached
the viewing tower, and my family took the time to have a little
break. I've already introduced you to Syndey and Chloe; the two
people they brought with them are Sam and Becky.
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It was nice to have
them all here visiting the birds with me.
We went up the tower
and had some nice views of the foreshore and water, but there
wasn't too much bird action to be seen. Besides which, it was
a bit windy and chilly up there. So we came down relatively quickly
and took a path leading back towards the entrance.
A ways along the path
we found a particularly friendly Northern Pintail.
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| He was a
lot less shy than the other pintails that we'd seen so far, and
so the girls got some really good looks at him. |
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| I also got
some pretty good shots of him. Here's one that I wasn't expecting;
for some reason it got way overexposed, but I really liked the result:
an abstract pintail. |
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| The others
sat down for a while and broke open another feed bag. About a dozen
birds gathered as they were spreading the feed. One of those that
came around was this American Coot. |
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| Chloe discovered
that if you're generous with the birdseed, the ducks will kiss your
feet. |
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Of course, it helps
if you put some of the birdseed on your shoe.
Soon we were walking
again, and I spotted a few Glaucous-winged Gulls enjoying a day
at the beach.
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We were almost at Fuller's
Slough again, and everyone was getting tired and hungry, so I
had the others wait while I went along the south trail to see
if the Sandhill Cranes were about; there was no sense in them
coming this way if they weren't. I soon spotted the cranes and
so I went and retrieved my family. In the meantime, the cranes
had mounted the path and were headed our way.
I was able to bring
the girls up to within a half a meter of the birds, but when they
were there I was too close to get any photos. So I'll have to
show you photos of just the birds.
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| Even with
their dirty bills, they're quite elegant birds. |
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| On our return,
I noticed one duck in a group of a dozen or so that seemed odd.
It had the green head, but it wasn't quite a Mallard. The tail and
dark plumage up the back of the neck made me think that it was a
cross between a Mallard and a Northern Pintail. Turns out I was
right. |
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| He sure
was quite a handsome duck. And I wasn't the only one who thought
so—it seems his plumage was a big hit with the ladies. |
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| After watching
the hybrid for a little while, we headed back to Fuller's Slough,
where we commenced another duck-feeding operation. But soon enough,
the feed was all gone. |
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As we were going out,
my friend Colin was going in, and we stopped and chatted with
him for a while. Then we loaded up and went for a late lunch in
Ladner.
After lunch, we headed
to Boundary Bay, encountered Colin again, and went a short distance
along the dyke to see a Snowy Owl. I've gotten plenty of photos
of snowies this year, so I had left my camera in the van. It was
fun to just be there watching for a change.
By then it had been
a long day for all of us, and we returned so that everyone could
rest up for the next day. My parents were arriving that evening
and so we'd be an even bigger group then.
Never saying "uncle",
Tom
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